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March 2007
Meeting Daoud
Daoud Bouhaddou is (one of) the owner(s) of Berber Tours, the company with which we booked our camel trek. He was waiting to greet us as we stepped out of our car in the hotel parking lot in Zagora. He had an amazing presence and radiated happiness and warmth yet was looked very stately wearing his black turban and his blue Berber robe with gold stitching. We immediately felt comfortable with him. After we settled into our room, he met with us over coffee for an hour to answer our questions about the camel trek to introduce to his nephew Khalid who would be our guide, and to make sure we felt comfortable. We were very comfortable and very excited about the trek after meeting Daoud and Khalid.
Camel Trek
Our camel trek in the Sahara Desert was amazing. We spent two days and two nigts in the desert with Khalid, our guide, and Hussein, our cook. We rode camels in the morning and walked in the afternoon, covering 25-30km a day. Khalid and Hussein prepared tea and fresh meals for us three times a day. The food was more delicious than anything we had eaten in a very long while. They brought fresh produce and prepared everything by hand before each meal, including meat on the first night. Hussein even baked bread for us. He buried the dough in the sand with glowing charcoal and we watched the mound of sand grow as the yeast rose.
The desert in March was much colder then we expected. The temperature fell below 40 degrees F. at night and reached only about 80 degrees F between noon and 2PM. There was nearly always and strong wind; whenever the wind stopped, flies quickly came to bother us. If the wind blew strongly, sand came with it. Despite the cold, we wanted to sleep outside the tent. We bundled up in our sleeping bags and wool blankets and were rewarded with a view of the Milky Way in the middle of the night and view of the sunrise in the morning.
The desert was also quiet and empty. We saw no one for the entire trip. Besides the wind, there were no sounds. There were never any clouds in the sky. During our walks, the horizon stretched out before us in all directions. We could see groups of dunes in the distance occasionally, or perhaps a lone tree, but they were few and far between.
Khalid spoke English, but Hussein spoke German. Both of them tried to teach us Arabic and Berber phrases to use at mealtimes. Brad was able to pick up the appropriate responses very quickly. I memorized a list of Arabic words, but couldn't quite get the pronunciations. In the evenings the four of us sat around the gas stove in the tent while Khalid and Hussein prepared dinner. We talked about Islam and Moroccan society and asked lots of questions about their lives. They were both very friendly people who were open-minded and well-informed. They enjoyed telling us about themselves and wanted to learn about us as well. Not only did we learn a lot from them, we really enjoyed spending time with Khalid and Hussein and were very sad to leave them at the end of our trip.
Erg Chigaga
After we finished the camel trek, we drove with Khalid and Hussein to Erg Chigaga, a large group of very big sand dunes. The paved road had ended at the edge of the Sahara desert, so we had to go off-roading for two hours to reach the big dunes. There were lots of tires tracks running in all directions and no signs. Fortunately Khalid and Hussein knew the way. I started driving but got us stuck in the sand after 15 minutes. It took us 30 minutes to get out, and we had to rock the car back and forth and push sand underneath the wheels as they lifted up on either side. Once the car was back on top of the sand, we had Khalid drive because we wanted to be sure to get there that day. He got us stuck in the sand later on, but we were able to get out in only 10 minutes because another car pulled us out with a rope.
The dunes of Erg Chigaga were even bigger than we expected. Brad and I went climbing on the dunes while Khalid and Hussein prepared lunch. The sun beat down and the sand was burning hot. I stood at the top a 1000-foot dune and saw nothing but rolling sand. I frequently had to cover my face with my turban because there was a lot of strong wind and sand was blowing in all directions.
On the car ride back, sand and dust kept blowing in through the open windows. A few times the dust and haze got so bad we couldn't see very far in front of us. Brad and I were completely lost, but Khalid and Hussein knew how to get back.
Jeffrey,
Brad and I made it back to North Carolina and recovered from our trip to Morocco. We wanted to thank you, Daoud, and especially Khalid and Hussein for a wonderful trip. We had an amazing time in Morocco, but the time we spent with Khalid and Hussein was definitely the best part. We really can't say enough about how happy we were and what a good time we had thanks to Berber Tours.
We promised Khalid and Hussein that we'd send our pictures of them; they're attached to this email.
If you'd like, you can see all of our stories and pictures at:
http://www.unc.edu/~abednar/morocco
You're welcome to use any of the pictures and stories in your testimonials if you'd like. :)
Sincerely,
Aaron and Brad Bednar
Chapel Hill, NC
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